Sears And Roebuck Didn't Invent Christmas!

The first word in Christmas is Christ. Even the most agnostic and skeptical among us will admit that.

Kesley Colbert

The first word in Christmas is Christ. Even the most agnostic and skeptical among us will admit that. Some grudgingly so… but it is, for those that don't believe in such, an absolute.

It is the birthday of Jesus. And it is a worldwide celebration. You can say "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" or "Roll Yule Tide" if you want to. The Coca Cola people can put a picture of a polar bear instead of a Nativity Scene on the side of their cans. You can spray paint "Xmas" on your store front window. We can tout Santa Claus to the roof tops. We can build snowmen and deck the hall with boughs of holly. We can secularize it, we can commercialize it, we can regionalize it, we can spoof it, Grinch it, party around it, kiss your best friend under the mistletoe or put on those outlandish green and red sweaters and sing "dashing through the snow" till it's time to move on to New Year's. But you can not ignore that it is the birthday of Jesus Christ!

Oh, you can play like you are looking the other way. You can concentrate on that perfect gift for your sweetheart. You can wax eloquently over the secret eggnog recipe handed down from your grandmother. You can bypass the Christmas pageants and church cantatas. You can step lightly around the true meaning so as not to create a scene or be confronted by the aforementioned agnostics. But you really know. They all really know! IT IS the birthday of Jesus Christ!

For some reason that I can't fathom many don't like that. I say to them tough Frankincense. It is not the birthday of Buddha, Mohammed, Joseph Smith, Martin Luther, Billy Graham or the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. I'm not preaching here, apostatizing, criticizing, condemning, trying to sway opinion or forcing my religious views on you. I'm simply stating a fact. I'm not against your group. Or anybody's belief. I'm not mad or "trying to be heard". I'm simply saying that Christmas came about as a celebration of the birth of Jesus.

A lot of newspapers in today's world won't print this story. They will print murder, chaos, mayhem, strife, war, pestilence, soap opera entanglements and advice columns galore. But most in the professional news media today avoid the Prince of Peace, the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star, the very Reason for the Season..like He is bringing the bubonic plague or something. I don't see the threat or danger here that keeps so many lips buttoned.

And oh, by the way, this newspaper is not responsible, accountable or liable for anything that I might write down here. They cover the stories they deem newsworthy and they leave me pretty much to my own devices. I am "soul-ly" answerable for today's article.

I think a lot of this undermining of the true Spirit of the Christmas season centers around "political correctness". For some reason it has become fashionable to bow to this unseen contingent who determines what might be "sensitive" or "offensive" to certain groups, races, ideologies or thought processes. Listen carefully here, I wouldn't knowingly offend the least of my brothers for anything on earth. I wouldn't purposely embarrass, harass, judge or expose one single person, group or nationality. But come on now, we've about let this "political correctness" thing get a little out of hand.

And don't you dare tell me Christmas has become politically incorrect! Walking into a movie theater and shooting scores of people is politically incorrect. Dropping the unwanted new born baby in the trashcan is politically incorrect. Neighboring countries warring on each other to beat the band is politically incorrect. Parents who push the responsibility of raising their children off on TV, iPads, school teachers or detention center officers is political incorrect. Elected officials who look you right in the eye and lie to you is politically incorrect. Walking right by, without a smile and a kind word for, that young teenager who is struggling so mightily with life and searching so desperately for the right answers, is politically incorrect.

Political correctness might ought to start with rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's...and unto God what is God's.

When I was a boy I loved the Red Ryder gloves, the BB gun and the Timex watch. But I knew, even at a young age, that was not what Christmas was really all about. My parents sacrificed to give me that watch. Money was always short. Daddy, taking a cue from the Heavenly Hosts, gave us more than he had. You can't swoosh that under the table…you can't play like that didn't happen...you can't live long enough to explain to me the politically incorrectness of that! Daddy taught us the story of the second chapter of Luke better than any preacher I've ever heard...without reading a word!

As we stood in that small living room, in front of a fairly simple decorated tree, unwrapping gifts and celebrating the moment Mom would always work in her favorite truism, "We wouldn't be here if He hadn't been there!"

It is the birthday of Jesus, plain and simple. Let's honor it by holding down the clamor of politically correctness and trivial infighting, and start sharing more of the peace on earth and good will toward each other.